Junior volunteers brighten their future, serve community

For the 20 junior volunteers at Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital, donating their summer vacation isn’t just about gaining experience, it’s about giving back to their community.

The 2015 junior volunteer staff, ages 14 -18, serves in many different capacities across the health care organization. They can be found delivering balloons and cards to patients who need cheering up, doing clerical work at the information desk, delivering newspapers and putting together information packets for in-patients. They even work in areas like the emergency department, endoscopy and physical therapy.

The guest services department and volunteer coordinator Janet Conner take pride in the junior volunteers’ dedication to their tasks and compassion toward patients.

“It is so inspiring to come in to work each day and see their eager, smiling faces. The dedication to their work and their compassion toward our patients speaks volumes about the integrity of these young people,” says Conner. “Many of these junior volunteers are planning to go into the medical field and being able to watch them gain experience in a health care setting is a real privilege.”

For many junior volunteers, 2015 is not the first year they have decided to pledge their time to Sentara Halifax Regional Hospital.

“For several of these volunteers, this is the second and third year in a row that they have committed their summer vacations to helping us serve,” Conner noted. “It is a great way for them to not only give back to their community, but to also have something valuable to add to their resumes as they move into their college careers in the years to come.”

As the 2015 junior volunteer season begins to wrap, the junior volunteers will continue gaining experience and serving their community until July 31. Even though the volunteering will soon draw to a close for this year, these dedicated young people will be actively looking forward to the next time they can come in and donate their time to those in need.

Junior volunteer Paige Nichols captured this sentiment best when she quoted Winston Churchill on her 2015 junior volunteer application:

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."